What worked for me was taking my Basenji for a short walk along the road that I live on every hour until she went. After just a couple of days it made a big difference and after that I increased it to 2 hourly, 3 hourly and so on. I think it worked because she became used to going outside and it felt less familiar going inside. Going outside and waiting for her to perform with her getting stressed, wanting to go back inside and not understanding what I was asking didn't get us anywhere and this was much quicker and long lasting. Now she goes for 2 decent walks per day (morning and night) and usually asks to go into the garden once in between (she is 18 months old). My Basenji was a puppy so if you decide to try this you may not want to start at hourly. The other benefit of this is that she doesn't tend to want to poo in the garden unless she has an upset stomach.
Berber carpet eater
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My Granddog, Jasper, turned one in March. He is a rescue dog. My son has trained him very well, and he is perfectly behaved when my son is home. However, Jasper digs and chews the carpet (berber carpet which unravels beautifully!) once in a while when my son is at work. During the day, Jasper is confined to the large carpeted basement room complete with a doggie door to a large fenced in back yard. We were wondering if this might be a symptom of separation anxiety behavior. Jasper has the run of the entire house when Randy is home and NEVER touches anything in the house except his own toys!
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In our experience, berber carpet is irresistable!!
The loops stick up at just the right height to grab - and when you pull, you can get a whole bunch of it to come up at once! Then you can run madly about trailing strings of carpet until it gets stuck in your teeth…The Illusion Basenjis
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This b isn't crate trained?
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It is very difficult to maintain dogs, as they do every possible thing to destroy your carpet. They usually snags on Berber carpets with their nails and do a great deal of damage to the carpet also it is better to find an area with hard surfaces for the dog to play with their chew toys. By taking a little time and care you can love your dogs as well as can have clean home.
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If Jasper is only a little over 1 year, now is the time to start working/training him to be a good housemate. Crate training, alone training, proper greeting training, etc etc. are all important items besides obedience training.
Is he put in the basement every time your son leaves but someone else is in the house?
If that's the case, then he just might develop SA associated with your son's absence. Does he have lots of toys and goodies while in the basement? Is he allowed to exit the doggie door when no one is home (very scarry thought)? How is he treated when your son returns - lots of hugs and attention (contributing to SA)?
